Mission

Share Our Spare (SOS) ensures every Chicago area child, ages 0-5, has the essential items they need to support their health and development and equip them for a strong start. SOS activates community impact through empowerment, innovative solutions, and a network of partners, so that children can thrive and families can shift from crisis management to caregiving with dignity. As a result, we help lay the foundation for a resilient and equitable community.

Share Our Spare children Mission
Share Our Spare donate items
Share Our Spare diapers in trunk

Our Values

Comprehensive

A unique, child-first model that ensures dignity and crisis mitigation for families.

Intentional

Collaborating with community partners to provide dedicated and reliable services.

Actionable

Combating inequities by ensuring access to basic needs.

Sustainability

Recirculating essentials to support a greener and more equitable world.

Share Our Spare volunteers at sharehouse

Our Story

Share Our Spare (SOS) was founded in 2011 by area mom, Amy Kadens, and nine other Chicago women with a desire to help local families in need.

After meeting a mother at a North Side food pantry in need of an emergency supply of diapers and formula for her infant daughter, Kadens mobilized her personal network to share any of their spare baby supplies. The response was hundreds of donations from parents eager to help.  The following month, Share Our Spare was founded to ensure that no family would have to stress over providing their children the most basic essentials.

SOS received nonprofit status in 2012. First functioning out of Kadens’ garage, operations were moved to a 1,500 sq. ft. office space – which was later expanded to 3,000 sq. ft – and two offsite storage spaces. In 2021, SOS moved into our current 8,000+ sq. ft. Sharehouse to accommodate the significant growth and demand we were experiencing in the new decade. In 2020 alone, as families struggled during the pandemic, we distributed more diapers (1.2 million) than all of our previous eight years combined.

Since our start, SOS has helped an estimated 50,000+ unique children and their families across metro Chicago find support, strength and hope through an agency partner model, which emphasizes wraparound services and empowering upward economic mobility.

Alex Goodfellow

Executive Director

Alex has more than 10 years of nonprofit experience, including five years with The Little Bit Foundation in St. Louis, MO, where she directed the organization’s programming and strategic partnerships and contributed to revenue growth of more than 300%. Prior to SOS, she served as Manager of Corporate Partnerships for One Million Degrees, a Chicago-based nonprofit serving scholars in post-secondary programs. Alex also has experience in domestic violence, as well as youth advocacy. She holds a Master’s in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Saint Louis University.

Share Our Spare Bridget Rundquist

Bridget Rundquist

Director of Partnerships and Community Engagement

A native Chicagoan, Bridget is a mission-driven professional with extensive experience serving young people, working in the intersection of education and social work, and building relationships with diverse communities of stakeholders. Bridget holds a Master’s in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor’s in History with minors in Education and Psychology from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She spent a semester abroad in Northern Uganda studying Post-Conflict Resolution and has spent several summers in Jerusalem with Project Harmony Israel.

Jesseca Rhymes

Director of Operations and Development

Jesseca began her career with Apartments.com, where she worked directly with property managers and management companies. She also has served as an assistant property manager with Mercy Housing and as the assignments coordinator at DePaul University’s Department of Housing. In 2015, Jesseca founded Never Go Without, which has donated over 50,000 menstruation and incontinence supplies to individuals in need around the Chicago area. She earned her Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management and has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Eastern Illinois University.

Sade Chapman

Operations Coordinator

Sade (they/them) is a community-oriented service industry professional and administrator with a passion for cultivating care through highly personalized experiences. Sade holds a Master’s in Museum Studies from the University of Illinois-Chicago and a Bachelors’ in Anthropology and International Studies from the University of Washington.

Get In Touch

Share Our Spare
3800 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60641
‭773-657-3117

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Share Our Spare Lou

Louis Macmillan

Driver

Louis (Lou) attended Progressive Truck Driving School in Chicago where he received his Class A CDL license. After working at PGT Trucking, he decided to make a change in occupations and started with Share Our Spare in the fall of 2021. Lou says, “I love my job and our mission! I get to deliver essential items for children and meet a lot of new people doing important work throughout the community. I look forward to what’s to come each day!”

Jarod Rhymes

Driver

Jarod Rhymes is a recent graduate from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is currently pursuing his Master’s in Urban Planning and Policy. As part-time van driver, Jarod is responsible for executing SOS donation pick-up services and facilitates many Stuff the Truck events. In addition to being a full-time student and part-time SOS employee, Jarod also is a proud member of the Illinois National Guard.

Sade Chapman

Operations Coordinator

Sade (they/them) is a community-oriented service industry professional and administrator with a passion for cultivating care through highly personalized experiences. Sade holds a Master’s in Museum Studies from the University of Illinois-Chicago and a Bachelors’ in Anthropology and International Studies from the University of Washington.

Lauren Arbuckle

Program Coordinator

Lauren began her journey as a civic advocate for food insecurity, during her graduate practicum at Columbia College Chicago. Outside her education, she worked as a portraiture photographer and led mental wellness programs for the elderly. The desire to help and preserve individualism in communities has led her towards collaborative work. Her avid background includes media literacy and digital production. She obtained her MA in Civic Media at Columbia College Chicago and BA in Journalism and Multimedia Studies at Roosevelt University.

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